Hello from the Whitsundays!

It's been a while since my last post, and much has happened in between. Fraser Island was very very cool. Three days on the worlds largest sand island in a 4WD truck, camping in tents, feeling, breathing, tasting sand, and swimming in a couple of the over 200 gorgeous freshwater dune lakes (Fraser contains half of the world's total!). What an amazing place; I never knew rainforests could grow on sand, and I've never seen whales, turtles, sharks, manta rays and dingoes in such a short period of time. I've also never driven on a beach that is officially a highway and an airplane landing strip all at the same time. Hoowhee!

Tired but fulfilled, our 8-people group went back with the ferry to lovely Rainbow Beach after three days. And from there on I went to tiny Town of 1770. The place is named after the year of Captain Cook's second landing, is very remote (the paved road to the place is actually just a few years old) and it's a great place to kick back for a while. Cool Bananas is one of the nicest hostels I've stayed at so far as well, and I wish I'd had more time than just one day.

The day that I did have there, I spent surfing. The instructors were quite good, and I caught a fair amount of waves standing up and riding my board to the shore. Surf's up dude!!!

The reason why my schedule is a bit tight, is that I've booked a number of activities further up the coast. On a sidenote, Australia is the easiest country to travel around in, as it's very focused on backpackers. This also is a bit of a pity, because it's hard to get off the beaten track, and it's necessary to make reservations for just about all hostels and activities, hence the unflexibility...

Anyway, after another exhausting overnight Greyhound trip I have now arrived in Airlie Beach. Airlie is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands, one of the East coast's main attractions. Made up out of 70-something islands, the Whitsundays are paradise-like, and are supposedly best experienced on a multi-day sailing trip. So tomorrow we'll set sail on a Catamaran and go exploring the islands' beaches and snorkel/dive the coral reefs for a couple of days. Should be nice!

After that I'll be moving further up North, to Magnetic Island, which is just off the coast from Townsville. 'Maggie' is another prime diving spot along the Great Barrier Reef, but the most famous dive to there is the S.S. Yongala, a sunken shipwreck. At Pleasure Divers I'll be doing my PADI Advanced Open Water course, which includes 2 dives on the wreck. Wicked!

Pff, a bit of a lengthy post perhaps... I'll soon try to upload some pictures as well, as I've got loads of great pics I'd like to show, but unfortunately enough I only seem to come across internet cafes that do not allow USB usage..